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Greenwich Fugitive Indicted In $54M Embezzlement Scheme

GREENWICH, Conn. -- A Greenwich resident who is on the lam was indicted Wednesday on charges of embezzling $54 million from the private equity firm where he worked, according to U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz in Boston. 

A Greenwich man has been charged in connection with embezzling $54 million from the private equity firm where he was a general partner and fund manager.

A Greenwich man has been charged in connection with embezzling $54 million from the private equity firm where he was a general partner and fund manager.

Photo Credit: File

Iftikar Ali Ahmed, aka Ifty, 44, was indicted indicted in U.S. District Court in Boston on four counts of wire fraud and three counts of making false statements on income tax returns. 

Ahmed, who was charged in a separate scheme in April 2015, fled the country while on pretrial release and is currently a fugitive from justice, Ortiz said. The indictment alleges that between 2004 and April 2015, Ahmed embezzled more than $54 million from the private equity firm, where he was a general partner and fund manager, Ortiz said.

Ahmed used the proceeds to purchase a $9.6 million residence in Greenwich and a luxury condominium in New York for $8.6 million, Ortiz said.

According to the indictment, Ahmed embezzled the money through an elaborate scheme in which he submitted false invoices, substantially overstated the prices of international business deals he orchestrated on behalf of his employer, and by setting up fraudulent bank accounts in the name of the private equity firm for which he worked and the companies in which his employer invested. 

In one incident in November 2014, Ahmed allegedly recommended to his private equity firm that it invest $20 million in an international company and justified the price by submitting fraudulent financial documents. 

At the same time, he informed the company that his employer had agreed to purchase shares for $2 million. Ahmed then directed the private equity firm to wire $2 million to another company and the remaining $18 million to an account that Ahmed falsely claimed was the company’s account, but actually belonged to him. He then transferred the $18 million to his spouse, the indictment claimed.

Ahmed faces up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 on each count. He also faces up to three years in prison and a fine of $1 million for each count for making false statements on his income tax returns.

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